The Senate Appropriations Committee urged the Department of State Thursday, to consider imposing sanctions on countries that protect Edward Snowden, the American Whistleblower who leaked the National Security Agency's surveillance program of monitoring communications and movements of the people.
The 30-member bi-partisan Senate committee in Washington unanimously voted to move towards sanctioning any country that comes to the aid of Snowden.
Snowden is holed up in the transit zone of Moscow's airport since he flew down from Hong Kong following an arrest warrant issued by the U.S. government on charges of espionage and theft of government property.
"I don't know if he's going to stay in Russia forever. I don't know where he's going to go . . . But I know this: That the right thing to do is to send him back home so he can face charges for the crimes he's allegedly committed," said Sen. Lindsey Graham.
The Russian government said, Thursday that it had not received any extradition request from the Obama administration to transfer Snowden back to the U.S.
The Russian Justice Ministry said it received a letter from the U.S. Attorney General, Eric Holder explaining Washington's position on the Snowden case but no extradition request was made.
"This document did not contain requests for the extradition or deportation of this individual," the Interfax news agency quoted the ministry as saying in a statement.
Snowden had requested for asylum to more than 25 countries but only a few nations in Latin America obliged to grant him shelter. He is unable to travel to Latin America as his passport has been revoked by the U.S. government.
